The 16th annual CCB Book Sale is coming up! If you haven’t attended the sale before, get ready for thousands of brand-new books for young people of all ages and interests at a greatly reduced price. Reserve a spot in our exclusive Sunday pre-sale for early access and the best selection. We will accept reservations for the pre-sale starting Monday, January 23rd through Monday, February 6th. Tickets to the pre-sale are $20. The free-admission book sale will take place in the CCB (iSchool Room 24) from February 13 through February 15, during which time the CCB’s normal operations will be closed. Keep your eye on the 16th Annual Book Sale webpage, as well as our calendar to stay in the loop with book sale happenings. As always, feel free to contact us at ccb@illinois.edu for more information.

The spring semester Galley Giveaway is also upon us! Join us in the CCB for free pre-publication copies of books for readers ages 0-18. On Thursday, January 26th 11am-7pm, iSchool students, staff, and faculty are welcome to join us for our iSchool Preview Day. Friday, January 27th 10am-5pm, the Galley Giveaway will be open to the general public. Please contact the CCB at ccb@illinois.edu with any questions.

Follow the Center for Children’s Books on Facebook and RSVP to our Book Sale and Galley Giveaway event pages for exclusive deals!

CCB staff member and second year iSchool student Anna Lapp was recently accepted to the 2017 BOBCATSSS Conference in Tampere, Finland. We sat down with her for a brief Q&A about youth services at the iSchool, her BOBCATSSS presentation, and the importance of attending conferences as a young professional.

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself, your research interests, and your goals in the LIS field.

A: I’m a second year masters student focusing on youth services in public libraries. Originally I was considering a more academic librarianship route when I applied for library school, but I interned at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (PLCH) the summer before I started my masters, and I fell in love—especially with working with youth. Working with youth in the library is like being part of a really fun experiment: you get to see kids learning and their brains are chock-full of ideas and passion. I hope to promote learning through library resources and programs as a library professional for children and teens no matter their background or circumstance. At the iSchool, I’ve focused my projects on resources for marginalized youth and young girls and women, and this is something I want to carry forward into my career as a librarian.

Q: You’ve been accepted to BOBCATSSS. Can you tell us about your poster topic? What led you to choose that topic?

A: My BOBCATSSS submission was my 501 poster from my first semester at the iSchool. Incidentally, it’s part of the reason I became interested in public youth services librarianship. Food for Thought: Summer Lunch Programs in the Public Library examines summer library lunch programs across the country, primarily funded through the USDA, which aims to tackle food insecurity. Oftentimes public libraries are accessible hotspots for communities—children who are eligible for free and reduced meals in school can receive lunch in the summertime at some library locations.

The PLCH branch I interned for offers summer meals for children aged 0-18 Monday through Friday for 8 weeks in the summer. Everyday I interned, I worked over the lunch hour so serving lunch to children was a fundamental part of my internship. I come from a fairly privileged background, and I never experienced food insecurity as a child. The summer lunch program at PLCH opened my eyes and my heart to a project that is vital to decreasing hunger and the summer slide.

Q: Tell us a bit more about this conference. What exactly is BOBCATSSS? How did you find out about it? What made you want to go?

BOBCATSSS is a yearly library and information science symposium held under EUCLID (European Association for Library and Information Education and Research). The acronym BOBCATSSS stands for the original universities who co-lead the symposium together in its first year (1993): Budapest, Oslo, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Tampere, Stuttgart, Szombathely and Sheffield. Other universities have since joined the BOBCATSSS team. The symposium is largely organized by LIS students from these European universities, which gives students the chance to run their own conference.

I first heard about BOBCATSSS last year when I knew several LIS iSchool students who attended the 2016 symposium in Lyon, France. Most of these students were taking the International Librarianship class taught by Terry Weech and applied to the conference, were accepted, and then received travel funding through the iSchool. I thought—“How cool! My friends and peers get to go overseas to present research they’ve done here at the iSchool!” I am a total sucker for any kind of travel, but getting to travel for your passions and what you’ve learned while in graduate school was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up! After I decided to submit my summer lunch program research, I wrote an abstract based on my poster, and it was then accepted. Come late January I will be off to Tampere, Finland for the 2017 BOBCATSSS symposium, and I am jazzed!

Q: What other conferences have you attended in the LIS field? Do you have any advice for those who might be new to conferences or conference presentations?

A: I highly recommend looking into conferences you might be interested in and apply to intern if there is an option to. I’ve interned and attended the Illinois Library Association (ILA) 2015 conference and the International Federation of Libraries Association (IFLA) 2016 World Congress (aka conference). As an intern, my registration fee was waived; this is a great deal because conferences can be costly and interning allows you to meet fellow librarians and library students while working with them – as far as my experience goes, interning has been very low key (registration desk, counting people who enter an exhibition hall, etc.) Additionally, if you’re presenting at a conference close by or far away you can apply for travel funding through the iSchool.

Attending BOBCATSSS will be my first conference where I have to present my own research so I am a bit apprehensive, but also excited. Both the iSchool and our ALA student chapter, especially the conference committee, have multiple opportunities to learn more about writing abstracts, presenting at conferences, and learning more about conferences. These sessions provide insight for students interested in and preparing for conferences. And when in doubt, we have such a helpful and knowledgeable staff from all walks of library land that contacting someone is the surest way to learn more!

Anna encourages anyone with questions about attending conferences or youth services at the iSchool to contact her at alapp2@illinois.edu. (She is always free to grab coffee!)

On January 11th, Dr. Kate McDowell will be giving a storytelling workshop for staff at PACE, an organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities live independent lives. For more information, visit the PACE website at http://pacecil.org/.

Every month, the CCB and BCCB Graduate Assistants highlight books reviewed in the most recent issue of the Bulletin that we were excited to read. These decisions are based on personal preference, but all books listed are Recommended by the Bulletin. For complete reviews, visit the Bulletin website (http://bccb.ischool.illinois.edu)to learn how to subscribe.

Sam's Review: The Girl in the Picture by Alexandra Monir

Reading Level: Gr. 7-10

Pages: [272p]

Publisher and Year: Delacorte, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-385-74390-7

Price: $17.99

Alexandra Monir has crafted a mystery that fans of the Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl series are sure to enjoy. The story begins with a murder at Ocean Bay Prep, a posh and prestigious east coast boarding school. The victim? Star soccer player, son of a powerful congressman, and most popular boy at Oyster Bay, Chase Porter. Through dated entries told from varying perspectives, we learn that Chase was involved in a scandalous secret love triangle at the time of his death—with the popular and beautiful Lana Rivera, also a child of Washington's elite, and the brilliant but shy scholarship musician Nicole Morgan. The murder and the resulting press scrutiny has thrown both girls into the spotlight, and they must attempt to piece together the night of the murder in order to find out what really happened to their former flame. Things veer slightly into cheesy category when Chase appears as a ghost to help both girls on their quest, but the fast-paced story and ultimate reveal of what really happened on the night of Chase's death is enough to keep readers interested throughout.

Pictures are only pictures until you learn to really see them. In this interactive and eye-catching book from celebrated street photographer Joel Meyerowitz, readers are introduced to the intrigue and charm captured in everyday images. Vertical and horizontal layouts create an interactive flipping experience as viewers shift their gaze back and forth from full-page photo reproductions to splashes of informational text. Assorted photographs are presented in both black-and-white and color, from the mid-twentieth century and on. While readers devour each new image, the accompanying text can be used as a visual guide. Meyerowitz’s language is conversational, skimmed down, and approachable for all levels of artists (and non-artists) while offering tidbits of surprise and practical picture-taking tips. Essential points are amplified through large and bolded letters, which will leave skimmers satisfied and engaged. This multipurpose book would serve well in any art class, but would be equally suitable as a pleasure read, a coffee table book, or a how-to guide. With each subsequent look at these pictures, there is more and more to gaze at. Novice photographers will surely find inspiration between these covers. After experiencing Seeing Things, readers of all ages will begin to wake up to the hidden and beautiful imagery in their everyday worlds.